Following an official statement from Ittihadiya after President Abdel Fattah El Sisi told a visiting U.S. congressional delegation that human rights in Egypt should not be judged from a “Western perspective,” two Bloomberg View contributors peg “U.S. Doubles Down on Egypt’s Dictator” on the shifting stance of US lawmakers who once sought to make US aid to Egypt contingent on political reform. One of El Sisi’s toughest critics was Chairman of the Senate of Appropriations Subcommittee Lindsey Graham, who led the push for the contingency legislation. “I think he is somebody we can do business with. I think he’s the right guy at the right time, but his actions will determine if I’m right or wrong,” Graham said. “We all understand that Sisi is not perfect, but the failure of Egypt would be a catastrophe for the world.”

The spate of human rights stories continues with the Washington Post’s editorial this weekend headlined “Egypt’s latest target: [redacted],” which treads over the prosecution late last month of 11 men accused of preferring the company of other men, a story that flew largely under the domestic press’ radar. [Pardon the circumloquacious phrasing, but the algorithms aren’t LGBTQ friendly…]